Weaving WebSphere: WDSc 5.1.2 JavaServer Faces--Fifty Ways to List Your Data

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Weaving WebSphere: WDSc 5.1.2 JavaServer Faces--Fifty Ways to List Your Data

** This thread discusses the article: Weaving WebSphere: WDSC 5.1.2 JavaServer Faces--Fifty Ways to List Your Data **
Excellent article. I'm one of those Struts advocates you spoke of. As a trainer, mentor, and developer, I'm constantly reviewing what I consider to be best practices for application development. The MVC architecture is a requirement for Web applications. But I don't think any shop should go about writing their own (perhaps you'll be recommending other frameworks in a subsequent article.) Struts is the most commonly accepted framework. There are dozens of books on Struts and many Eclipse IDEs, including WSSD, WDSc, and WSAD, include integrated support for Struts. I disagree when you say that the JSP to JSP flow is hard-coded. I say it is soft-coded in the struts-config.xml file. If you can change an XML or properties file, I consider that soft-coding. And you jest about struts-config.xml being hard to read, note that WDSc and other Struts-enabled IDEs have a full GUI for the struts-config.xml file with wizards for adding code. Struts is so common now that many shops are asking for Struts knowledge for new employees. Also note that there are numerous other cool features of Struts besides the JSP to form to action class flow. One of my favorites is Struts declarative validation where you put edit masks into an XML file that are associated with HTML input fields. That said... I've been considering JSF. What I see most intriguing is it's event handling. But JSF does seem to be a bit overly complex. Your article has prompted me to take another look at JSF and I hope you write more articles on JSF. The problem with Struts and JSF is that JSF replaces about 60% of the functionality that Struts provides so you pretty much have to pick one or the other.

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Weaving WebSphere: WDSc 5.1.2 JavaServer Faces--Fifty Ways to List Your Data

** This thread discusses the article: Weaving WebSphere: WDSC 5.1.2 JavaServer Faces--Fifty Ways to List Your Data **
Shoot. Don, I'm sorry I didn't see this message sooner. There's a bug in the forum software where initial responses to articles don't show up in "Recent Messages". Anyway, the discussion of frameworks is an interesting one. At this point, my position is that application logic is better written in RPG, so frameworks are moot, but having just put together a pure Java application, I'm still of the belief that frameworks are more problem than answer. First, they're often not easily extensible. If a framework doesn't have a feature, then I have to code a workaround and now I have code in two places. For example, you mention edit masks. If the edit mask doesn't have a feature I need, then I have to code around it and now I have editing code in two places. A much larger problem, though, is that nasty struts-config.xml file. You say a struts-config.xml file is softcoding, I say it's another limiting factor. First, everybody constantly has to fight over that file. Second, if you can't do what you want in that file, you have to change your class hierarchy. One thing I like to be able to do is invoke the same screen from multiple places and then return back to where I left off. I've yet to see an easy way to do that with Struts. Which leads me to my final point: should I waste my time learning Struts? Are you currently recommending Struts? If so, what do you tell those folks in six months when you're out championing JSF? In my opinion, Struts is dead, or at least mortally wounded -- IBM is already providing JSF support. And since the guy who WROTE Struts is now working on JSF, I'd say that the concept of "most commonly accepted" doesn't have much weight when it comes to "most stable". Remember, at one point EJB was the most commonly accepted persistence framework. To address your very first point: writing frameworks is not difficult, and once you have one or two in your toolbox, you should be able to apply them wherever you need them. I can teach a basic framework to a non-Java shop in a week or so. A Java shop can pick one up and run with it in days. If the skill set at a given engagement is too limited to write such a framework, then I guess Struts or something similar is a reasonable alternative, but to me it's like giving a man a fish. I'd rather teach someone to fish, especially when it comes to writing applications. Joe